The Ågesta Nuclear Plant (also Ågestaverket or just Ågesta) was the first Swedish commercial

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

plant built by

ASEA ''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' ( English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company. History ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås ...

. Also known as R3 nuclear reactor, it was the third

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

built in Sweden. Construction started in 1957 and ended in 1962, operations began in 1964 and continued until 1974. The station was built underground, used heavy water moderation and was fueled with natural uranium. The station primarily provided

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heater, space heating and w ...

(initially 60 MW then increased to 80 MW) for the

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

suburb

Farsta Farsta is a district in the borough with the same name in the southern part of Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. Farsta is located about eight kilometers south of Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban ar ...

, as well as a small amount of electricity, 12 MW. It is widely assumed that the underground reactors had military purposes, being able to produce plutonium. The cost of construction was estimated at SEK 50 million but the final cost was SEK 230 million. The companies Stockholms Elverk and Statens Vattenfallsverk were responsible for the building of the Ågesta plant. Before it was finished, another larger reactor, the R4 nuclear reactor was built at Marviken. The R4 reactor was intended for both electricity and plutonium production but it was cancelled in 1970. The station operated reliably except for problems with fuel rods in 1968 and a flooding incident on 1 May 1969. 15 fuel assemblies failed in 1968, causing the reactor to be shut down for seven months. In 1969 errors in operating procedures caused a valve to fail leaking 400 cubic metres of cooling water. This overloaded the drainage system and caused short-circuits throughout the plant. The water short-circuited the Emergency Core Coolant System resulting in high pressure heavy water leaking out of the core and into the piping of the ECCS. The water caused one of the main

busbars In electric power distribution, a busbar (also bus bar) is a metallic strip or bar, typically housed inside switchgear, panel boards, and busway enclosures for local high current power distribution. They are also used to connect high volt ...

for one of the generators to short, shutting down a turbine. The short-circuits preventing flooding from being indicated on the control board. The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate did not publicly release information about this failure until 1993. The Ågesta reactor, with 10 MW, was much smaller than the later Swedish reactor types. The reactor was part of a project called "the Swedish line" (''Svenska Linjen''), an international initiative to use natural

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

(not enriched) for fuel in commercial power plants. The shutdown of the plant was mostly a result of low oil prices and poor economics. The

Swedish Radiation Safety Authority The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority () is the Swedish government authority responsible for radiation protection. It sorts under the Ministry of the Environment. It was created on 1 July 2008 with the merging of the Swedish Nuclear Power Ins ...

approved demolition of the station in December 2019, with work expected to begin in 2020 and to be completed by 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agesta Nuclear Plant Nuclear power stations in Sweden Vattenfall Heavy-water reactors Military nuclear reactors Nuclear weapons program of Sweden Energy infrastructure completed in 1962 1962 establishments in Sweden 1974 disestablishments in Sweden Defunct nuclear reactors Buildings and structures in Stockholm County 1960s establishments in Stockholm 20th-century disestablishments in Stockholm

See also

References